The present invention relates generally to visual displays, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for illuminating individual pieces of fixed artwork such that an observer on a moving object sees a visual display in which the artwork has an apparent motion picture effect.
Millions of commuters throughout the world travel on trains, subways and elevators to get from one place to another each day. During these commutes, the commuter is temporarily held captive and must somehow pass time until reaching the desired destination. Until now, nobody has been able to deliver a system that meets the needs of public art and entertainment for commuters while proving financially beneficial for public transportation systems.
Artists, advertisers and others in the media constantly strive to present artwork and messages in ways that grasp and hold the attention of the viewer. One way this has been achieved is through the use of motion pictures. Throughout the modern era, viewers have been fascinated by motion pictures as a vehicle for receiving information. The captivating quality of a motion picture derives in part from its realism and ability to convey action in a way that fixed artwork cannot.
In an increasingly fragmented media marketplace, those skilled in the art of developing new applications would prefer a novel and versatile form of media that captures the attention of the commuter, presents information in a captivating way and makes public transportation more desirable.
The theory of kinetoscopes and their application to moving vehicles is known in the art, but each system presented suffers from drawbacks that make them impractical. U.S. Pat. No. 5,108,171, for example, uses an unnecessarily complex system of coded light signals to trigger the light source to illuminate the artwork. U.S. Pat. No. 4,383,742 uses an illumination system which is impractical because it requires more space than is typically available in many subway tunnels. Both systems may suffer from blurred images because there is no assurance that when one piece of artwork is illuminated, it will not also illuminate a portion of the adjacent artwork, thus creating a distorted frame.
Furthermore, there is no way in existing systems to rapidly change the pieces of artwork presented to the commuter. Advertisers and others would desire a system in which their displays could be varied. In existing systems, the artwork is mounted to a platform or affixed to the tunnel wall. To change the pieces of artwork, one would have to physically enter the tunnel, remove the artwork pieces and replace them with the new ones, which is difficult, time consuming and poses safety concerns.
There is therefore provided according to the present invention a new and innovative apparatus and method for providing visual art, entertainment and advertising by illuminating or otherwise bringing into view single successive pieces or xe2x80x9cframesxe2x80x9d of artwork so that passengers will see the individual artwork pieces in the same relative location and in a rapid enough time sequence that an apparent motion picture effect is seen in the art.
In a presently preferred embodiment, the pieces of artwork are affixed to walls of a dark or dimly lit subway tunnel. Strobe lights coupled to the subway railcar or within the tunnel itself are flashed as a function of the speed of the railcar to sequentially illuminate the fixed pieces of artwork. The effect of this sequential illumination is that passengers on the railcar see a visual display in which the artwork has apparent motion. To avoid image distortion, two separate control circuits are used to trigger the strobes for adjacent pieces of artwork. The system also allows the artwork to be remotely changed. In one embodiment, a scrolled artwork system containing portions of a plurality of separate artwork sequences enables selection of the artwork pieces. In another embodiment, the frames of artwork are displayed electronically through a slide projection system or a flat screen LED monitor linked by a cable or satellite to a remote control terminal for changing the displays.
In an alternate embodiment of the present invention, a soundtrack coordinated with the artwork plays along as the railcar passes by. When viewers pass a certain section of artwork they will hear the soundtrack associated with that section. In still another embodiment, successive rows of LED lights are mounted on the wall""s surface facing the railcar, each light coupled to a control system for flashing the light for a prescribed period. The combination of the flashing lights and the moving railcar is used to present messages or images to the viewers in transit.
By animating tunnel walls with apparent motion visual displays that can be changed, a benefit of the present invention is its ability to make public transportation on trains and subways more appealing for commuters.